Dewsbury man jailed for rape of sleeping victim

Court Reporter

A Dewsbury man has been jailed for seven years for raping a woman while she was asleep.

Lee Howden, 49, raped and sexually assaulted the victim with a sex toy at a property in Selby, North Yorkshire.

He denied the allegation and took the case to trial, where a jury found him guilty of both counts on Tuesday following a two-day trial.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson told York Crown Court that Howden had videoed the sex attacks and stored them on a laptop.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was unsure whether she was asleep or unconscious through drink at the time of the attacks.

In 2015, Howden - formerly of Hensall, North Yorkshire, but lately of Albion Street, Dewsbury - was jailed for sexual offences against two girls whom he also covertly videoed in a state of undress.

On that occasion, he was convicted of three counts of sexual assaulting an under-age girl and three counts of voyeurism. Again, he had denied all the charges and took the case to trial, forcing the girls to give evidence.

He had given one of the girls money and lifts in his car and sexually assaulted her on several occasions. He also used his mobile phone to covertly take videos and photos of her and another girl, separately and without their knowledge.

For his latest offences, Howden was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and slapped with a restraining order banning him from contacting the rape victim.

Howden will have to serve half of the seven-year sentence behind bars before he becomes eligible for parole.